March 16: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

March 16, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1842, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The Temperance Society of Saint Paul celebrates its first anniversary tomorrow (St. Patrick’s Day). The Society will meet in Myrtle avenue, opposite Fort Greene, at 9 o’clock precisely, where it will be joined by several societies from Williamsburg and Bushwick. The exercises will take place at St. Paul’s Church, Court street, and consist of an Oration by the eloquent Dr. Moriarty, of Philadelphia, and a Grand Mass, in which several eminent singers will perform.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1905, the Eagle reported, “SANTOUPU, MARCH 15 — The Russians have abandoned their advanced positions on the Fan River, where the desperate attack of the Japanese yesterday was repulsed, and have fallen back upon the defenses of Tie Pass. Previous to the retirement, the supplies of wood, etc., collected there were set on fire. A desperate bloody battle is now waging north of Tie Pass.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Eagle reported, “ALBANY — The death knell of the historic ‘reapportionment issue,’ storm center of New York State politics for more than 20 years, was sounded here today as the Republican-controlled Senate passed and sent to the Assembly the bill revamping legislative districts for the first time since 1917. The vote was 43 to 7. Action was taken after Governor [Thomas] Dewey reminded legislators in an emergency message of their sworn oaths to carry out their responsibilities under the constitutional mandate requiring reapportionment in accordance with census figures. Republicans and Democrats climbed on the bandwagon as the Senate passed the bill. With the Brooklyn Democratic delegation voting solidly for the measure, the only negative votes were those cast by three Democrats, including one Tammany member, and four upstate Republicans. …The vote was a smashing political victory for Governor Dewey, the Senate completely reversing its stand from 1942 when an almost identical bill was beaten by a coalition of upstate GOP members and downstate Democrats, including a number from Brooklyn.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “LONDON (U.P.) — The controlled Moscow press and radio today accused Iran of violating the Soviet-Iranian oil agreement and charged that an anti-Soviet bloc was being created in the Near East. While hurling accusations at Iran, Turkey and Iraq, Moscow said Russia intends to make herself so strong within 15 years that she will be secure against any attack. A Moscow radio commentator said the Soviet Union needed peace to achieve this goal. The government newspaper Izvestia charged the Tehran government with giving to Anglo-American oil interests concessions which had been reserved for Russia under the pact of 1921. For 20 years, Izvestia said, the policy of Iranian ruling circles regarding oil concessions was permeated with hostility to the Soviet Union and directed toward promotion of clashes between Russia and other great powers.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “LONDON (U.P.) — Western Europe, working under a newly approved master defense plan, raced today to rearm before an expected major diplomatic crisis with Russia this summer. The defense program, approved by the five Western Union countries in a two-day meeting here, called for each nation to arm as best it could and asked the United States for weapons that Europe cannot make. … The plan will be submitted to other countries that join the Atlantic pact so that all members can coordinate their work in the effort to stop the spread of Communism.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.I.) — President Kennedy got his annual gift of St. Patrick’s Day shamrocks from the Irish ambassador yesterday, along with a reminder that it was the British who burned the White House in 1814. Ambassador Thomas J. Kiernan, who had on a blue polka dot necktie and wasn’t sporting a bit of green, presented the shamrocks to Kennedy in an elegant 12-inch-high vase of Waterford glass. It bore engravings of the White House and its Irish architect, James Hoban.”

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Curtis Granderson
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Apollo 7 astronaut Walter Cunningham, who was born in 1932; financier Sanford I. Weill, who was born in Brooklyn in 1933; original “Wheel of Fortune” host Chuck Woolery, who was born in 1941; “CHiPs” star Erik Estrada, who was born in 1949; “Alias” star Victor Garber, who was born in 1949; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Nancy Wilson (Heart), who was born in 1954; Pro Football Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome, who was born in 1956; “Ray” star Clifton Powell, who was born in 1956; comic book creator Todd McFarlane, who was born in 1961; “Mother Mother” singer Tracy Bonham, who was born in 1967; “Gilmore Girls” star Lauren Graham, who was born in 1967; former N.Y. Yankees and Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson, who was born in 1981; and Brooklyn Nets forward Blake Griffin, who was born in 1989.

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FOUNDER’S DAY: James Madison was born on this day in 1751. Known as the “Father of the Constitution,” the Virginia native also co-wrote the Federalist Papers, served as Thomas Jefferson’s Secretary of State (1801-09) and was the fourth president of the U.S. (1809-17). As president, he led the U.S. into war against Great Britain. During his years in office, his wife Dolley hosted many social functions that brought political rivals together in a spirit of cooperation. Madison died in 1836 at age 85.

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UP AND AWAY: Robert Goddard successfully launched the first liquid-fueled rocket on this day in 1926. The flight, which took place in Auburn, Massachusetts, lasted only 2.5 seconds, but the rocket, traveling at 60 miles an hour, reached an altitude of 41 feet and landed 184 feet away.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

Quotable:

“We didn’t want to be the girlfriends of the Beatles. We wanted to be the Beatles.”

— Heart co-founder Nancy Wilson, who was born on this day in 1954